Water was, and still is, the lifeblood to any community. Timaru needed a
sufficient water supply for the health and comfort of its population. A practical
digger, a man who has had long and varied experience in water races in Otago,
was asked to make a rough survey of the country at the back of Timaru and his
plan was accepted and submitted a tender -'no water, no pay.' The Council
backed the Otago digger over the a C.E. as the digger's plan was cheap. The
Pareora Dam and a series of races and tunnels to a bluestone-lined reservoir
above Centennial Park were completed in 1881 and served Timaru until 1939. The
reservoir was in use until 1960, when a new one was built at Claremont. The
water travelled from the dam about twenty six miles, the average width and depth
being two feet six inches but brought the water a distance of sixteen miles as
the crow flies. The raceman's cob cottage was considered a significant aspect of
Timaru's heritage until is was
destroyed in
August 2007.

Otago Witness, 16 June 1866, Page 11
We extract the following from the " Timaru Herald" of 8th June:  The
Municipal Council deserve considerable praise for energetically taking up the
question of a supply of water for Timaru ; and from what we can learn, their
labors are likely to be crowned with success more complete than the most
sanguine of that body ever conceived. The Council a short time since employed Mr
Frazer, a practical digger, a man who has had long and varied experience in
water races in Otago, to make a rough survey of the country at the back of
Timaru, to the Pareora river, to ascertain the practicability of bringing water
into Timaru by a race from that river. The report has been made public, and is
of the most favorable character. The whole work can be executed for something
less than two thousand pounds, and a supply of the purest, water delivered
throughout the town at the rate of three thousand gallons per minute an ample
supply for a very large population. The water will be brought a distance of
sixteen or eighteen miles; but the whole work can, we understand, be executed
without any "fluming," except a few yards across the head waters of the Otipua
Creek. Mr Frazer has undertaken to send in a tender for the work, when the
Council are prepared to undertake it, with the condition that if he in any way
fails in delivering the water where required, that he will forfeit all payments
on account of the work ; or as he expresses his meaning, 'no water, no pay.' The
Municipal Council have now made application to the Government to grant the money
required for this most necessary work ; and we would urge upon the Government
the advisability, the necessity, and the justice, of complying with the request.
It is a work which is necessary for the health and comfort of a large
population, and which may be done at a very trifling expense.

Timaru Herald 6 and 13 March 1872 page 5The Timaru Water Supply

The want of an efficient water supply in Timaru was checking
the prosperity of one of the most flourishing district towns in the colony,
said Mr Rolleston. An Otago digger and a C.E. are two very different
personages, the one has a science attained by practice, the other the
science learnt by books, we back the digger in the mater of cheap water
races. Let the Council look to the practical digger, the man who, in the
mountainous districts of Otago, has brought water miles further, and over
far more difficult ground than would be traversed by a water lead into
Timaru. As Timaru wants water but cannot afford expensive water works,
cannot it be attained in the manner indicated?

Timaru needed a sufficient water supply and on 10th February
1872 the Government accepted and approved a proposal. On March 5th a public
holiday was declared and 200 people witnessed the first two blasts at the
Pareora. The water race was completed on 10th December 1874 and a revision
with iron pipes officially opened on 16th December 1881.

Today, 2007, Timaru draws its water from two sources, the
Pareora River at the Upper Gorge and the Opihi River near Pleasant Point. The
water is piped to the Claremont Reservoir where it is treated with ozone and
chlorine. Ozone kills bacteria and protozoa and chlorine is used to prevent
recontamination.

Evening Post, 17 December 1874, Page 2
Contrary to general expectations, and in spite of all the predictions of
croakers who maintained that until water could be persuaded to run up hill the
Pareora waterrace would never be accomplished, the water from the Pareora has
been (says the Herald) actually brought into Timaru. The first sod of the
water-race was cut by Mr. Cain, the then Mayor of Timaru, on the 3d of March,
1873, and with some slight interruptions the labor of making the channel, has
been steadily progressing ever since. From the spot where the water is drawn
from the Pareora river to the town of Timaru, following the course of the
water-race, the distance is about 36 miles, although by the road it is not more
than 16.

The Timaru Herald of 12th April 1875 page 4 column 1
contains a detailed account of the whole work, race and reservoir. James Fraser,
a practical miner, was the original constructor of the works.
Summerized.

Mr George Cliff, the mayor, and Councillor Padget,
accompanied by Mr James Fraser, the contractor, Mr W. Williamson the
engineer for the work, Mr Lough, the Town Clerk and a representative of the
Press inspected the Pareora water race. The party - of whom two were on
horse back, and the rest in a two horse buggy - left town about 12 noon and
followed the line of the race till reaching Mr D. Fyfe's on the Otipua
Creek, here an extensive iron flute is suspended from one side of the creek
to the other. The journey was continued across several farms, which
serpentine-like the race intersects. Arriving at Briggs; gully by way of the
new cutting leading from the Timaru downs to the Pareora flat another
stoppage was made for the purpose of examining the iron flute which spans
this gully. Leaving this spot, the travellers proceeded across the Pareora
flat and river to Mr Elworthy's homestead, and along the gorge on the left
bank of the river to Mr Pratt's, the road contractor's camp, where the
horses were kindly left and attended to by the men there. The party
proceeded on foot, forded the Pareora to the north bank about a mile from
the camp, where the gorge is contracted to very narrow dimensions, the sides
being of rock and in places nearly perpendicular, and walked along the ledge
formed by the lower side of the race for about a mile- the point where the
water enters the race. It was nearly six o'clock, and getting dark, a short
cut to the camp was taken, the party clambering u the steep hillside and
reaching the road which is being cut through the gorge by Mr Pratt. Timaru
was reached by a little after 10 o'clock. There was no moon and it was dark.

The total length of the race from head to Timaru is thirty six
miles, the average width and depth being two feet six inches. At the point where
the race starts from the river, injury to the cutting as regards to being washed
away by floods is impossible, as it is blasted out of solid rock. The bottom of
the race is below the bed of the river and as there is always water in the
Pareora and a perpetual supply is secured. The first miles and a quarter of the
race, which runs along close to the river, and very little above the level of
the stream, is blasted out of solid rock.

You can still pick out were the water race course ran, 2005 &
2011.

For the next three quarters of a mile the race turns off a
little distance from the river through some moderately level ground which
was pretty easy to cut. Leaving this length the race is carried across
Tiko's flat in a wooden flume seven chains long, supported by tressels of
five by five inch timber, twelve in number, each tressel being about twelve
feet high. From the south end of the flume the race is cut round Mount
horrible for about four miles, principally through a limestone rock
formation which required blasting. From the place where the river is tapped
to the end of the four mile length last alluded to, the race is situated on
the Levels run. From the edge of the run to Briggs' gully the race runs in a
tortuous course on the plain the property of the New Zealand Meat Preserving
Company. The gully is spanned by a flume eight chains in length. The flume,
which is in the form of a circular pipe one foot in diameter, is of
galvanised iron, the joints being soldered and riverted. Totara posts were
sunken fourteen feet in the ground on the west and east banks of the gully.
Between these posts are ten wooden supports, the stems of large trees, the
butts of each being fully fixed in the bottom of the gully. The longest of
these supports is 62 feet, four of them are 57 feet. At the top of each post
is a large iron ring, through which the flume passes. From the gully the
race extends along the siding through the Otipua station property, the blue
stone rock occasionally met with. Owning to the knowledge the contactor had
obtained, he tunnelled underneath the rock layer, and he was right. He
commenced work at each side of the hill, making excavation four feet six
inches high, and two feet six inches wide. The character of the ground was
gravelly. The roof was formed by the rock layer. The light of the tunnel is
670 feet. From the tunnel the race continues on the Otipua Station for three
miles, and then passes through the farms of Messrs White, Tregenza, Boncher,
Graham (the educational reserve), and Johnson. It afterwards passes through
another portion of the educational reserve in the occupation of Mr Graham
and across Mr Landsborough's farm to Otipua Creek. Here the race is carried
over the deep gully by means of a flume similar to the one at Brigg's gully
with the exceptions that it is but six inches in diameter...This flume is
600 feet long. From the flume the race extends through Mr D. Fyfe's and Mr
T.W. Fyfe's farms, and along the southern side of the road leading from the
Otipua Creek to the Rev. Mr Foster's farm.

At this farm it branches off and is carried down the road
extending to the western end of North street. From the race at this point
three branches are cut leading through different parts of town. One branch
passes through Mr Wilson's land to Bank gully, which leads to the Bank of
New Zealand and finds an outlet to the sea through the culvert near the
George street Landing Service. A second branch is taken through land in the
occupation of Mr J. Wild and Mr Scarf to North street, extends along this
street for some distance, and is then taken across Mr Cain's land and Mr
Buchanan's land to Brown street gully, the water gaining the sea near the
Commercial Hotel. The other branch runs across the western end of North
street and into the gully which intersects Mr Archer's and Mr Cain's
properties and finally the Domain emptying at the north side of Peeress
Town. Here and there along the race, where gullies were unavoidable, wooden
flumings have been erected and at various points by washes have been
made to prevent the water rising higher then a certain level. The race has
an average fall of about 6ft a mile for the whole distance. The work has
been completed in six months. The cost of maintenance has not exceeded
£20.

The reservoir is situated on Mr Landborough's land, on the
western bank of the Otipua Creek. Is 437ft long on the top and 130ft wide,
21ft 6in deep, and 370 feet long on the bottom and the end 66ft wide. Its
holding capacity is 5,000,000 gallons, sufficient to supply a town
containing ten times the population of Timaru. The site of the reservoir is
200ft above sea level, or to put it on a manner easier to comprehend about
20ft above the Windmill fans. Iron pipes leading to the town from the
reservoir will be embedded in the ground of the creek and carried through Mr
Hugh Fraser's and Mr Double's land, and end along North Street to the town
boundary. The contractors construction for the race was
£3010 and
£156 for keeping it in repair for twelve
months after completion. The contract for the excavation of the reservoir
was £2550. Total cost
£5716. This money was provided by the
Provincial Council and expended under the direction of the Timaru Borough
Council.

Timaru Herald, 24 December 1878, Page 2
The work of constructing a dam across the Pareora, for the purposes of the
water-race, has been commenced, and a good deal of the necessary material is
already on the ground. At first tenders were called for constructing the
dam, and Mr Silas Sibly's tender being the lowest, it was accepted.
Subsequently, Mr Sibly withdrew from the contract, unless the Council agreed
to release him from certain conditions, which would involve the maintenance
of the dam for six months after its completion. This the Council refused to
do, and after a stormy debate they agreed to carry on the work by day labor,
under the supervision of the Engineer. The work has been going on for the
last few days and it is expected that it will be done at much less cost than
the amount of Mr Sibly's tender.

1910 T. Wagstaff, Timaru No. T.3

Star 1 November 1881, Page 3
A Big Dam. To-day, at the invitation of his Worship the Mayor (Captain
Sutter) a large number of influential citizens visited the dam at the head
of the water-works to witness the turning on of the water into the race
leading to town. The race is fully 20 miles long.

Timaru's water supply, developed in the late 1870s and early 1880s, saw water
fed from the original Pareora dam through a series of races and tunnels into the
town to a bluestone-lined reservoir above Centennial Park. The cob two-roomed
cottage, most likely built by the council of the day, provided accommodation for
the raceman, the person responsible for the day-to-day operation and maintenance
of the scheme. It was considered a significant aspect of Timaru's heritage as
the raceman's cottage for the town's first water supply.

Timaru Herald 10/07/2014
A dam fine piece of paradise. Growing up in Timaru means you know all about
South Canterbury and South Canterbury is cool. The countryside is gorgeous.
And speaking of gorges. I am going to let you in on my secret, special
place. First you get to a spot called Evans Crossing along the Pareora
River. There is a sign explaining the walk is an 80-minute return trip but
you could be at the destination in 20 minutes quite easily.

Fine weather is linked to water
deaths.

North Otago Times, 9 January 1879, Page 2

The following explanation of the supposed drowning case near
Timaru, appears in the Herald of yesterday :  A paragraph appeared in our
issue of yesterday stating that the clothes of a man had been found on the
bank of the Pareora river, and that it was supposed the owner had been
drowned. The matter has since been inquired into by Constable Stanley, of
Pleasant Point, who found the owner of the clothes sleeping in shepherd's
hut, in the vicinity of the place where the clothes were found. It appears
that the man, while in a state of drunkeness, wandered away from his camp,
stripped off his clothes, and made his way to the shepherd's hut, where he
slept himself sober."

Timaru Herald December 24 1882

Thomas D SNEATH - "While bathing in a waterhole
in the Pareora River"

Timaru Herald January 14, 2005
She was trapped by the flow of water at the base of the dam.

Tara MacPherson, a 17-year-old, slipped while walking across the Pareora Dam
at Motukaika. Bystanders tried frantically to save her after she fell into a dam south west of
Timaru. She was trapped by the flow of water at the base of the dam
because of the volume of water and the turbulence, rescuers were unable to get
to her. He says two men attempted to pull the woman from the water. The men and
two women then tried unsuccessfully to resuscitate the young woman. The eroding
of the top of the dam is one issue, as is the lack of signs warning that walking
on the structure can be dangerous. The dam is more than 120 years old, built as
part of a scheme to bring water to the developing Timaru borough.

2007: For most of
the last 60 years the dam has served no useful purpose except for a swimming
hole. Maybe the Timaru City Council dam should be removed by blowing it up.

Three men in their early to mid twenties entered the upper Pareora
Gorge
above the middle waterfall via a side creek. The Pareora river supplies Timaru
with its water. The first member of the party jumped 6 or 7 metres down the
middle waterfall jumping out far enough to clear the vortex at its base and be
carried down by the river to a calmer pool. Looking back he noticed the second
member of the party on his first trip through was caught in the vortex at the
base of the fall. The third member had not jumped and threw down a log to assist
the trapped person. The first person observed the trapped person being swept
around and sucked down from time to time, eventually not resurfacing. SAR
called.

The Star 29 September 1876 pg 2The New Zealand Disease

Inquests. Last year inquests were held in this Colony on 575
bodies (478 men and 97 women). Of these no less than 95 (80 men and 15
women) were accidentally drowned whilst 45 other verdicts of "Found drowned"
were returned. Thirty-three (27 men and 6 women) had committed suicide.
Heart disease caused 26 deaths (19 men and 7 women). Thirty-one, all men,
were killed by falls of earth.

Drowning toll continues to declineNZPA 9 January 2006

New Zealand's drowning toll has continued to fall, with 103
people dying in the water during 2005. The annual toll has gradually been
decreasing, from an average 181 in the 1980s, to 143 in the 1990s, to 113 in
2004. Water Safety New Zealand was pleased with the low toll for 2005.
However, there was still room for improvement. Seven pre-schoolers died last
year, three of them in home pools. "Sadly supervision is still an issue for
parents and caregivers whilst around the home, more often than not due to
complacency." Three-quarters (77) of drowning victims were
male, and of those 46 per cent were aged 15-44. "It is pleasing to note that
the typical Kiwi male is starting to observe some basic water safety
principles and warnings." More than half the victims were not planning
to be in or on the water when they died, and 45% were recreational water
users. Since 1986, 2841 people have drowned in New Zealand.

Drowning is the third highest cause of accidental death in New Zealand, behind
road vehicle crashes and falls. Three-quarters of drowning victims are male.
More than half the victims were not planning to be in or on the water when they
died. For every one fatality there are 8 near fatal drowning incidents.
Persons who drowned in NZ up to 1870
1865: 151- nine of them being females
1875: 164
1880: 165
1895: 166
1901: 142
1904: 171 (of these 28 were females)
1911, 1912, 1913: 485
1914,1915,1916: 502
1923, 1924,1925: 467
1985: 215 people drowned in NZ, a record high
1998: 148
2000: 132
2001: 121
2002: 139
2003: 126
2004: 113
2005: 103
2006: 91
2007: 106
2008: 96
2009: 98
2010: 87 people drowned in NZ, a record low (7 in Canterbury).
Rivers continue to be the most dangerous environment with 29 fatalities in 2010
2011: 123
2012: 98
2013: 107
2014: 90

In 2011, nationally there
were 66 drownings during recreational activities - including while swimming (17)
scuba diving and snorkelling (13) and shore-based fishing and power boating
(both 11). There were 24 non-recreational drownings, and 30 drownings recorded
as "other activities". There were also three unknown/unclassified fatal
incidents. Beaches (with 29 deaths) overtook historical danger spot rivers (27
deaths) as the most common place for a drowning to occur. Maori continue to be
over represented in drowning statistics. 24 Maori drowned in 2011. This is 20%
of the total number of drowning victims, yet Maori make up 15% of the
population.

In the ten years, from 2003 to 2013, 22 people have drowned in
South Canterbury. Of that number 16 were male and 6 were female. Drowning is New
Zealand's third highest cause of unintentional death in 2013. Most drownings
were thought to occur in the first few minutes after falling into the water. The
body's ''shock response'' is an early ''gasp response'' was followed by rapid
hyperventilation and often when people gasped, they also breathed water into
their lungs and drowned. Eight pre-school deaths. South Canterbury had no
drowning deaths in 2014, while 90 people - mostly men - drowned in New Zealand
in 2014. The figures, released from Water Safety New Zealand, covered the
Timaru, Mackenzie, Waimate and Waitaki districts. In 2013, there was one
drowning death in Timaru. "Disappointingly, adult men continue their terrible
track record making up more than 76 per cent of all drownings." In 2014, 69
males drowned and 21 females. 18 people drowned in inland still waters, 16
offshore and 14 in tidal waters. A third of the drownings were immersion
incidents, where people had no intention of entering the water, which
highlighted the need for people to learn swim and survival skills. No pre-schooler
should be drowning. 20 of the drownings were in rivers.

Hope there are signs there at the dam
to warn teenagers of the danger and the attempted rescue and ultimate recovery.

Dams are drowning machines
and their hydraulic currents are deadly. Even a mild current is extremely
powerful. Moving water presents many dangers, some hidden. Make several
intelligent decisions and avoid low water bridges, dams, waterfalls and big
rocks where water flows over an obstacle or fall and as it accelerates
creates a partial flow back towards the obstacle or fall. These currents are
powerful. Use common sense and portage. If trapped swim down and out along
the bottom of the river. Rescuers can easily become victims.